Heave, Ho!
by Meowzakers
Summary: µ's will disband after graduation. Eli pays Maki a long overdue visit, determined to set their new goals straight.


A/N: I was trying to think of some Nozoeli material when this Elimaki idea popped up instead. I really like Eli and Maki's relationship and I never was satisfied with how little they talked about Maki's background in the anime.

There's some multi-paragraph dialogue near the end so if you see dialogue not closed off by quotations followed by another dialogue with proper quotations, you found it. All that means is it's the same person talking but I separated their dialogue for formatting purposes.

Please, enjoy.

...

Eli wasn't sure as to what she should be doing right now. The chair she was told to sit in was humongous and yet the room still had a lot of leftover space. It's not that she wasn't used to large homes - she's been to her fair share of them back in Russia - it was the overall quality of each and every item in the room. Everything didn't seem like furniture or an essential at all, instead everything looked like whimsical decoration. It didn't feel homely.

Frankly put, it saddened her.

"Hey. Sorry, were you waiting for long?" asked a familiar red-haired girl as she came into the living room.

"No, I wasn't."

"That's good. My mom just started lecturing me out of the blue so I lost track of the time." Although Maki didn't like to admit it, complaining about her parents to a friend has always been something she wanted to do. And yet, the atmosphere Eli was emitting wasn't quite how she expected it to be.

"Um, Eli? Are you okay? You look like you're thinking about something really … intensely."

"... Yeah, I am. But I've been listening to you too though. Um," Eli made eye contact with the first year for the first time since sitting in Maki's living room. "Is it my fault your mom lectured you? I did ask to come suddenly…"

"No, no. Don't worry about it. She was just … reminding me of some things."

The blonde's blue eyes softened when Maki's eyes broke eye contact. The first year reminded her of herself so much that it was scary sometimes. In her sharp, purple eyes she briefly recalled her very first, most precious memory of being with the eight girls to whom she'd devote countless hours with.

_She sat in her usual seat all the way in the back of the classroom. Almost by habit, she rested her head on her right palm and gazed blankly at the blue sky, trying to absorb some of its tranquility into her. She's always thought looking at something calm and clear would quiet your thoughts. _

"_What I want to do …" she repeated in her dream-like state. However, the very phrase ripped through her calm skies like an alarm. She saw a blurred Nozomi looking at her with sad, distressed, green eyes while she screamed at her for trying to pry into her mask. In the end she simply ran away because once she could no longer see her best friend clearly through her tears she couldn't help but feel like Nozomi was no longer looking at her. Instead, the shrine maiden had already ripped off her mask and was - has - been looking at her bare, vulnerable, pathetic self all along._

"_She won't push me if I push back," Eli thought._

_And yet, push the spiritual girl did._

_Eli shifted her gaze to the row of empty desks in front of her, trying to regain her composure. She dispelled Nozomi's interrogative jabs. Dispelled the sight of those seven girls dancing despite completely exhausted under the clear blue sky. Most importantly, she dispelled the warm feeling that put a light jump to her step when those girls looked at her with attentive yet accepting gazes. _

"_Simply doing something you want to is just-"_

_An inviting hand came into her vision._

"_Student Council President, no, Eli-senpai! Please, join µ's!"_

_All around her was Nozomi and the girls she put through ballet hell. Everybody was looking at her but she couldn't feel their stares. Each and every one of them held a different stance but in them all she saw friendliness. Playfulness. Their eyes couldn't be any more different when it came to color or overall shape but in each pair she felt she could lose herself if she stared for too long. Their unified smiles were as if there were some big inside joke between them all-but if Eli were to simply smile along with them she would find the joke._

_She hadn't felt this peaceful in a long, long time._

Eli smiled, letting the memory hold her tight in the unfamiliar living room. Maki ended up returning eye contact while she had been reminiscing. Every µ's member had a different impact on the blue-eyed girl and Maki was far from an exception. That day she joined she could see her own eyes in the red-haired girl's eyes. Although they had yet to share an actual conversation at that point, empathy rather than sympathy silently closed the gap between them.

Eli slackened her jaw, giving her voice a softer tone. "Ahh, I know what you mean. Parents always remind you of things you haven't forgotten, huh?"

Maki smirked, willingly enticed into the peaceful aura the upperclassman was emitting. "They do! But it's weird. This time I actually did forget so that was a bit of a shocker to me."

"Oh? That's unusual. What was she reminding you to do?"

"Uh, just some school stuff. College."

"I see," Eli paused, wondering for much longer she could tread waters with Maki. Reluctantly she marched on. "Are you still going to study medicine in college?"

"Well, yeah …"

"... And what are you going to do about μ's? You said you wanted to continue being idols back then at the beach, didn't you?" Eli asked, trying to retain her calm composure but these have been questions that have been pecking at her for a long, long time. Knowing Maki-knowing herself-she wouldn't tell if not prompted-no-pushed.

"Hah, so it finally comes out. I was waiting for somebody to ask me about that but I expected Nico or Nozomi to ask before you would."

"Honestly, so did I," Eli humored the younger girl but refused to break her gaze in case the topic gets lost in a tangent of small, superficial chat topics.

Maki sighed. "Fine, you win. Once you, Nozomi, and Nico graduate and settle into college life I was planning to wait until you three decide to finally go professional. I'd join you, definitely. The others would too. School idols have age restrictions but the industry doesn't so it would be fine."

"So that'd be fine until you, Rin, and Hanayo finally graduate. What then? No matter how diligent and responsible you are, juggling being an idol and a medical student won't be possible."

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what?' You couldn't have possibly not have thought about this, Maki."

"No, it's just … I expected you to argue that I just forget about medical school and continue with music. And µ's."

Eli smiled. "As expected of Maki, huh? Am I that easy to read?"

"Well, no. You're hard to-actually, Nico, Nozomi, and you are really hard to understand. But when it comes to this topic … continuing µ's … I feel like we're worrying about the exact same thing."

Eli remained silent. For once she'll wait. For once she'll remain calm and let her deck be shown with no bluffs instead of using her flighty nature to keep anything from being shown.

"Eli … you want to dance, to perform. It's obvious whenever I see you during a live, you know. But you're, you're …" Maki trailed off. She couldn't help but feel like a hypocrite if she spoke her mind.

"It's okay, Maki. You're right. I-I'm scared. Doing what you want to do doesn't guarantee you a job. Let alone success. That's why the only people I want to dance with professionally are, well, µ's. We've delivered results and I'm the most comfortable alongside everybody. But we can't be µ's if it's not the nine of us."

"And if I become too preoccupied with school I can't perform with µ's."

Eli shrugged apologetically. "Exactly. I'm selfish, aren't I? I'm pushing my dream on you and I don't feel any remorse for it."

Maki huffed and made her way to the other side of the large coffee table to wipe off the tears forming in the corners of the blonde's blue eyes. "Sure doesn't look like that to me."

"I'm horrible."

"No, you're not!" she interjected. "L-Look, I love music. Before I joined µ's I was supposed to go to my family's hospital every single day after school to learn about medicine and management since that's what I've been doing since middle school. But during my first week at Otonokizaka I saw the empty music room and the dusty piano. I don't really know why but when I ran my finger across the dust over the piano I felt like crying. I almost did, too."

Maki stopped to take a few calming breaths. She could feel her throat tightening and hated it.

She shut her eyes. _Not now, please. If I don't say it right now, right here … then when? While I'm writing my thesis statement, praying to get into medical school? When I'm training to get registered? Who'd listen? Who'd understand?_

Her eyes jolted open when she felt two firm hands on her shoulders. When she examined her surroundings she realized she was no longer leaning on the sofa Eli was sitting at. Eli had sat her down so they were sitting next to each other with their knees leaning towards each other. When she opened her eyes, all she saw was Eli as she twirled the ends of her red hair.

"You do this to calm yourself, don't you?"

"Umm," Maki muttered.

"Sorry, I'm not trying to change the topic." Eli took a deep breath and moved her gaze from the red ends flaring in every direction to conflicted purple eyes. "Take a breather if you need time to form all of your words. But, just don't leave this seat, okay? I said what I needed to say and so do you."

"What I need to say …"

Eli took Maki's sweaty hands into hers. "Tell me which direction I need to push you in yourself. I'm in your hands and if you're not convincing enough … I'll let go."

She didn't know why seeing the dusty piano made her want to cry. Yet, this similar feeling overtook her when her dear friend's fingers started to loosen their grip around her own.

It hurt.

"I-!" Maki started, clinging to Eli's pale hands. "I wanted to cry because nobody cared for the piano. Not just that nobody wanted to play it but nobody even bothered to make sure it wasn't just collecting dust. I-I wondered where all of the curious fingers that could be playing the piano were…"

"And where were they, Maki?" asked Eli, trying to help Maki find her words.

"... Textbooks. They were running over textbooks and notebooks; they were where my fingers were. Hovering over medical articles and X-Rays."

"Is that bad?"

"No, it's not like I hate studying medicine or anything. It can be interesting. Really interesting. Sometimes it's fun, too."

Eli studied Maki's distressed face.

_Just one more push._

She let go of Maki's hands.

"Then just study medicine."

"Huh?"

"You like it and it'll be easier for you to make a career out of it since you're already next in line to run the hospital. You're set."

Maki froze, mouth agape.

"But,"

"But?"

"But-! When I play the piano I feel like … like you, Eli. When you dance. When I'm singing and making melodies I feel like I'm creating new worlds. I'm creating the worlds I've always wanted to live in and I'm helping people realize that this, right here, isn't the only world around. When I'm with µ's, each day passes in a flash because I'm living in _at least_ eight other beautiful worlds.

"Music … it lets me be free. If I can't be free in my dreams, then … I don't know how I'd live. I don't even _want_ to know, Eli."

Maki threw her arms around the blonde and let her burning tears fall wherever they pleased, much to her uniform's misfortune.

They simply sat in silence with the occasional sob and sniffle. Eli looked around her. The sun was beginning to set and she realized the living room wasn't as big as it seemed just a short while ago. She couldn't help but awe at how this sofa couldn't have been placed in a comfier spot. She waited for the girl in her arms to settle down in complete content.

"Sorry, Eli. I got your uniform all dirty."

"It's okay, I'm used to it. Honoka did this to me once before."

"Hah … Hey, Eli,"

"Hmm?"

"I don't know how things will turn out. How µ's will fare from now on. In the end maybe music will just be a really passionate hobby for me. But right now I'm going to chase medicine and music. I'll go to the hospital more often, especially during breaks. I'll be at the top of my class before I even go to college. I'll sing and dance and compose. It won't discourage me.

"After all, I have you, Nico, Rin, Hanayo, Nozomi, Umi, Honoka, and Kotori to help me with my selfish dream."

...

A/N: Their interaction was actually going to be much more aggressive but when the story was going in that direction I couldn't write anything I was content with. After watching the season 2 finale however, I realized aggression wouldn't fit. I'm also completely obsessed with the girls' eyes, like seriously. Each and every pair are absolutely beautiful (Nozomi's are my favorite).

Really, all of the µ's girls have such heartwarming relationships. I'm really going to miss Love Live! every week.

This will most likely stay as a one shot but even so reviews and critiques are very, very appreciated. I need to become more comfortable with sharing my writing so please don't be shy like me.


End file.
